Monday Musing
[ Amar Sangno ]
Arunachal Pradesh deserves special care from the Centre, especially with the Hindu majority at the helm. The state is unique in its diversity and composite cultures, yet united by Hindi as a medium of communication. It is the only northeastern state where Hindi is widely spoken among the tribes.
Arunachal embraces secular principles, allowing temples, mosques, gurudwaras, and churches to be built in the capital city, despite contributing to traffic congestion. The state is truly Indian, and people greet each other with ‘Jai Hind’ and ‘namaskar’ and start formal programmes by lighting lamps. Tribal people celebrate popular religious festivals like Vishwakarma Puja, Diwali, Dusshera, Holi, and Christmas with pomp and gaiety.
Yet, the representative of Jagadguru Shankaracharya Maharaj, Brahmachari Mukundanand, has sparked controversy by dictating how the tribal way of life and kitchen menus should be from the Arunachal Press Club. He called for banning beef eating and abattoirs in the region. The All Arunachal Pradesh Students Union (AAPSU) gave a befitting reply, reaffirming that no one can dictate our tribal way of life or food habits.
The AAPSU’s response was that “beef with bamboo shoot” is a favourite and most loved food in tribal areas. “Who are they to dictate what we should eat and what we shouldn’t? It’s our own choice,” said AAPSU finance secretary Byabang Hapo Dui.
“Cow is not our mother. Cow is an animal. We will never accept cow as god or mother,” Hapo added, cautioning religious leaders not to incite communal disharmony.
Surprisingly, no organisation, except the AAPSU and the Arunachal Pradesh Abotani Community Confederation, condemned Mukundanand’s statement.
The so-called ‘Gau Dhwaj Sthapna Bharat Yatra’ team has caught the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP) off guard as it is allegedly linked with the Congress party.
I am sure many BJP karyakartas must have been overjoyed after Mukunanand addressed the press without knowing that he has links with the Congress, though the Congress has never officially admitted this.
Cow politics has been a centrifugal USP for the BJP. A picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi caring a calf is doing the rounds on the internet, and critics have made scathing remarks on him, stating that Modi has no time to reach out to the victims in Manipur to console them but spends the entire day in making PR videos with a calf surrounded by cameramen.
However, the party was left fuming and fretting because, in spite of knowing that the Gau Mata team has links with the Congress, neither the BJP nor the Chief Minister Pema Khandu-led state government has come out with any statement.
The government is very much aware that such inflammatory statements by religious leaders, overriding the tribal sentiment, could trigger communal or religious disharmony in the state.
The Nagaland and Mizoram governments have outright banned the Gau Mata team from entering into their states. An Angami community-based organisation had called for banning of the Gau Mata Yatra team. It stated that the Hindus in Nagaland have been peacefully coexisting with the Nagas for all these years. Therefore, any incitement, as the proposed yatra envisaged, would only disturb the hitherto cordial relations amongst the communities in Nagaland.
The BJP government had already attempted to dictate the food habits of other parts of India just after it came to power in 2014. In Itanagar, the party activists had implored the district administration to ban the signboards of restaurants or hotels displaying the word ‘beef’, stating that it would hurt the sentiment of some sections of the community, in July 2022. The order was forced to be recalled after fierce protests and condemnation from across the society.
Respecting consumption of beef is not just about food; it’s about honouring cultural autonomy, promoting mutual respect, and preserving the harmony of a society.
Tribal people, despite eating beef, never disrespect or disturb other religions in Arunachal. Nor do we question the people of any religious background about their food habits or way of life.
Forcible imposition of the Hindu culture and the Hindu way of life would trigger only mistrust and disharmony in the tribal society.
